Tri Tang, a 25-year-old marketer, walked into a Best Buy Co. store in Sunnyvale, Calif., this past weekend and spotted the perfect gift for his girlfriend.

Last year, he might have just dropped the $184.85 Garmin global positioning system into his cart. This time, he took out his Android phone and typed the model number into an app that instantly compared the Best Buy price to those of other retailers.

He found that he could get the same item on Amazon.com Inc.'s website for only $106.75, no shipping, no tax.Mr. Tang bought the Garmin from Amazon right on the spot
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Dozens of mobile shopping apps are already available through Apple Inc.'s iTunes, and programmers are busy developing many more to transform smartphones into shopping weapons. Many of them use phone cameras to photograph bar codes and QR codes, or simply let users speak a product's name into their devices.

TheFind app has been out for four weeks and has been downloaded 400,000 times, according to the company. RedLaser, an app that allows shoppers to use mobile-phone cameras to scan bar codes to compare products and prices, has now been downloaded six million times since it was introduced in May 2009, says parent eBay Inc.

I use ShopSavvy which allows me to scan bar codes, or search by text (title, UPC,EAN,ISBN or ASIN).

It does save money, but the savings really depends on how far you have to drive to find the bargain pointed out by the phone. You have to figure in your time and gas.

Gingersnap

12-16-2010, 11:07 AM

I've seen people using these. Interesting idea.

megimoo

12-16-2010, 11:13 AM

I use ShopSavvy which allows me to scan bar codes, or search by text (title, UPC,EAN,ISBN or ASIN).

It does save money, but the savings really depends on how far you have to drive to find the bargain pointed out by the phone. You have to figure in your time and gas.At least it gives you an idea of the price range and how badly they want to screw you .I've shown store manager a competitors price and he matched it to make the sale.

megimoo

12-16-2010, 11:22 AM

I've seen people using these. Interesting idea.I've seen guys shopping
for food while sending email pictures of the selections and food prices to their wives at home for her to decide what to buy !

PoliCon

12-16-2010, 01:00 PM

meh. I just pre-shop online. saves time and money and allows you to avoid the idiots in the stores. :)

Rockntractor

12-16-2010, 01:40 PM

meh. I just pre-shop online. saves time and money and allows you to avoid the idiots in the stores. :)

It is very kind of you not to increase the number of idiots in the stores.:)

malloc

12-16-2010, 02:45 PM

At least it gives you an idea of the price range and how badly they want to screw you .I've shown store manager a competitors price and he matched it to make the sale.

This is true. I haven't used it for price matching, but I might try that in the future. I have used it to know when to walk away though. I was looking at a headset for gaming at a grocery store in my area, because mine broke, and I didn't want to drive all the way to a Fry's Electronics, or Wal Mart. The grocery store was asking $35 for this particular headset that sold all over for $15. I decided the drive to Wal-Mart which didn't carry this particular model, but had other models priced for their value.

PoliCon

12-16-2010, 03:24 PM

It is very kind of you not to increase the number of idiots in the stores.:)

I figure you're more than they can handle so I'd best stay home. :p

Kay

12-16-2010, 09:01 PM

What amazes me is Google Goggles. You take a picture of whatever you are looking at, or wondering about. Then it pops up on screen what it is. See demo here: